Taking form

The contractors built many of the forms Monday for the foundation-wall concrete. Most of the rebar was installed, with Warren reporting that some 80 holes were drilled in the existing walls or footings so that steel rebar -- or in some cases anchor bolts -- and epoxy could be placed in the holes. These will make the joint between the existing concrete and the newly poured concrete solid.

Warren expects to call for a city inspection on Wednesday morning or afternoon. The concrete pour would follow immediately on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.

Framing the floors could then begin as soon as the forms are stripped off the concrete. The particle board flooring on the classroom wing will be replaced. While the framing is starting, digging and backfilling of the footing drains can be going on in parallel. Expect it to start next week.

However, we are still looking for a small tractor with both a backhoe and a bucket loader. We've been offered one with a bucket loader, which will be great for backfilling, but would mean digging the footing drains by hand. We'd like to avoid that.

As soon as Steve M.'s crew gets the flooring framed up, they'll want to strip much of the exterior of the narthex down to the framing. So, we'll be needing a work party in the next week or two to finish boxing and carrying lots of stuff from the narthex and the sanctuary into the storage shed, say Jan. 17 or 24. More on that later.